Sanitary napkin



Sept.y s, 1942.

C. A. FOURNESS ETAL SANITARY NAPKIN Filed Feb. 1939 C5 wf @fm itsentirety 5.

Patented Sept. 8, 1942 SANITARY NAPKIN Charles A. Fonrness, Appleton,and Edward H. Voigtman, Neenah, Wis., assignors to InternationalCellucotton Products Company,

Chicago,

Ill., a corporation of Delaware Application February 8, 1939, Serial No.255,278

Claims. (Cl. 12S-284)` This invention relates to an improved sanitarynapkin structure and particularly to an improvement insanitary napkinsor absorbent pads which embody an absorbent pad element, and, around thepad element, a wrapper which is used for supporting the pad. A

The main objects of the invention are toy provide a sanitary napkin ofthe character indicated with a covering-or wrapper adapted to serve theusual functions of supporti-nag the pad and which wrapper will be softand without any material tendency to chafe the wearer of the pad; toprovide a pad with a, soft, non-chafing wrapper which will be strongenough to serve the said supporting functions notwithstanding a muchhigher degree of softness than has been heretofore available inconnection with articles of the character referred to; to provide asanitary napkin structure having the aforementioned advantages but whichmay be manufactured at a cost not materially greater and possibly lessthan the cost of present-day sanitary napkins of comparableabsorptiveness but which.

lack the advantages "0f a comfort giving wrapper such as hereincontemplated; and in general, it is the object of the inventiontoprovidelan improved sanitary napkin structure of the type indicated.

relation and to produce flattened, thin ends which will hug the bodywhen the napkin is worn and avoid objectionable bulging. The crepedtissue pad 5 ymay have its top and bottom surfaces covered withrelatively thinV webs such as indicated at l and 8 `of cotton or othersmooth, soft ma'- terial, and, if desired, the cotton layer on theoutside of the pad which is worn away from the body may bemoisture-proofed while the other is made of absorbent cotton. 'I'he sidevedges of the pad may be enclosed inwater-proof edge strips 9 and I0,respectively, which may be of paper treated to make it water-proof.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be understood byreference to the following specication and accompanying drawing (1sheet), wherein there is illustrated a sanitary napkin embodying aselected form of the improved construction and also, moreor lessdiagrammatically, the means and method for producing a portion of thestructure.

In the drawing: f

Figure 1 is a perspective of a sanitary napkin partly opened up toreveal its construction;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary perspective of the wrapping materialemployedaround the pada portion of the view being enlarged as viewed through amagnifying glass; and

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic illustration of apparatus and a method forproducing the wrapping material employed in constructing the napkirl. A

Referring now to the drawing,'there, is shown in Figure 1 an absorbentpad body designated in The pad body 5 may be of anyipreferredconstruction; in this instance it may be considered as being made of aplurality of plies of superposed, creped tissue paper having their endspressed together as illustrated at 6, under sufcient pressure to weld,in eect, the plies together so as to maintain them in their superposedimpairment by the enclosing wrapper. However, l

The sanitary napkin,- whether or not embodying the multi-part padstructure above described, also comprises a wrapper Il which,inconventional'practice, has been made of gauze. Such a wrapper -isusually about twice the length of the absorbent pad body and wide enoughto permit it to be folded lengthwise around the pad in the -mannerindicated in Figure 1. When the wrapper is folded around the pad, theopposite end portions thereof extend beyond the pad ends to form tabssuch as indicated at I2, which are employed for attaching the pad to asupporting belt through the agency'of fastening buckles,"pins orotherwise.

-It will be apparent that the wrapper, in order to securely support thepad, must have adequate tensile strength to prevent the pad frombreaking through the'wrapper or to prevent the tabs from tearing awayfrom the buckle or pin fastenings or otherwise breaking. Gauze which hasYbeen used conventionally for wrapper purposes provides the desiredtensile strength while being light and fully pervious so that theabsorbent pad element is permitted to serveits function without gauzewrappers embody threads which are rela'- tively harsh, and hence tend tochafe or irritate the skin of the wearer and because of their lightnessthey readily bunch together and string in the attachment tab portionswith consequent discomforting effects.

A web of soft cotton, although oiering softness, smoothness and othercomfort characterv istics, is not adapted to serve the purpose of awrapper because of its lack of tensile strength which is necessary asabove indicated.

In order to obtain the comfort characteristics of a web of cotton orlike bres, there is provided, according to the present invention, acomposite wrapper structure which has all the comfort characteristics ofa simple cotton web and in addition, the required tensile strength, sothat it may l spools indicated at I9 are passed over 20 by which latexor other suitable Suitable vacuum means such as indicated at I8 maybeprovided for forming the loose fibre into a web on the screen I1.Threads I5, drawn from a series of apparatus indicated at adhesivematerial is applied to the threads, and then downwardly under a pressesthe threads 'I5 against the surface of the fibrous layer I3 on thescreen.' 'Ihe second layer Il of fibrous material may then be formedabove the threads by means such as illustrated and the compositestructure' thus formed preed together by. means vof a pressure roll2,2lafterywhich vthe composite structure is removed'from screen Il by aconveyor or other suitable means suchas indicated at 23.

The pressure roll `22 should be so adjusted l relative to the screen Ilthat the upper and lower webs of brous material will be pressed intointimate engagement'with the intervening threads I5 so that thecementitious coating thereon will intimately engage with the adjacentfibres of the upper and lower layers, so as to thereby effectivelyadhesively unite both of layers to all of the threads.

By producing the webs I3 and I4 in the manner indicated, the fibres ofcotton or other material assume no predetermined relation such as existsin a carded or garnetted web of cotton. Instead, the bres areirregularly arranged, extending in various directions and crossing eachother so that the respective webs assume a slightly matted or feltedarrangement, although retaining the looseness and softness of a uify,unfelted mass of cotton bres.

When the wrapper formed of material produced as above described isfolded around the absorbent pad body in the manner indicated in Figure1, the interengaging fibrous surfaces of the overlapping marginalportions tend to adhere to each other, due, probably, to the inherentcohesivenessof cotton fibres or to the intermingling thereof, so thatonly a relatively narrow overlapping width need be provided while at theor free the fibrous invention there are tion in the manner explained,affords such transverse tensile strength as is required.

The described composite wrapper material may be produced onfast-operating machineryand guideroll 2l winch probably ata lower costlfor both raw materials, labor and equipment than the cost of producinggauze such as has heretofore been conventionally employed for wrappingand supporting sanitary napkins. Hence, although the described structureembodies important advantages over prior constructions, it involves noincreased cost of production or materials. If Ait be desired to furtherreduce the cost of the improved structure,

the innermost layer I4 of fibrous material may be omitted. However, ifit be preferred, the lower or outer layer I3- of brous material may bethickened somewhat so as to partly compensate for the eliminated innerlayer, although such compensation is not necessary. It is merelyimportant that the outer layer I3 be thick enough or'fsoft-enoughtoprevent'thethreads I5 from working throu'glr` to' the?? outside of thefibrous layer.

Changes in the described construction may be made without departing fromthe spirit of the invention, the scope of which should be determined byreference to the following claims, the same being construed as broadlyas possible, consistent with the state of the art.

We claim:

l. A sanitary napkin comprising an elongated absorbent pad, and awrapper enclosing said pad and having extensions beyond' the endsthereofA constituting'tabs adapted to be used for supporting the napkinby attachment to a belt or other supporting element, said wrappercomprising a multiplicty of haphazardly arranged and loosely mattedlibres constituting a soft brous material same time obtaining adequatesealing of the wrapper around the pad.

The external soft fibrous surface thus provided around the pad body issoft, smooth and free from any chafing tendency, so that the napkin -hasa highly desirable comfort characteristic.

Also, the attachment tabs have a weight or body not present when anordinary gauze wrapper is employed, which body is desirable in that it-re'- sists Stringing of the attachment tabs and pro vides somethingsubstantial to grip in a buckle or to pin to a supporting belt of thepin-attachment type. r

The longitudinally extending threads incor'A .porated in the wrappersupply adequate tensile strength longitudinally of the wrapper, so thatthe wrapper is capable of securely supporting and retaining theabsorbent pad body in proper position when suspended from the attachmenttabs layer characterized by its anti-chafing quality and inadequatetensile strength 'for said supporting and attaching functions of thewrapper, and a plurality of threads disposed in spaced, parallelrelation on the inside and extending lengthwise of said layer of fibrousmaterial for supplying the required tensile strength to said wrapperwithout impairing its aforesaid anti-chaflng quality.

2. A sanitary napkin comprising an elongated absorbent pad, and awrapper enclosing said pad and having extensions beyond the ends thereofconstituting tabs adapted to be used for supporting the napkin byattachment to a belt or other supporting element, said wrapper comprisiing a multiplicity of haphazardly arranged and loosely matted fibresconstituting a soft fibrous material layer characterized by itsanti-chang quality and inadequate tensile strength for said supportingand attaching functions of the wrapper, and a plurality of threadsdisposed in spaced, parallel relation on the inside and extendinglengthwise of said layer ofI fibrous material and adhesively attachedthereto for supplying the required tensile strength to said wrapperwithout impairing. its aforesaid anti-chafing quality.

3. A sanitary napkin comprising an elongated absorbent pad, and awrapper enclosing said pad and'having extensions beyond the ends thereofconstituting tabs adapted to be used for supporting the napkin byattachment to a belt or other supporting element, said wrappercomprising a multiplicity of haphazardly arranged and beyond the ends ofthe pad. In a sanitary napkin loosely matted fibres constituting a softfibrous material layer characterized by its anti-chang quality andinadequate tensile strength for said supporting and attaching functionsof the Wrapper, and a plurality of adhesive-coated threads disposed inrelatively spaced, parallel relation on the inside of said layer offibrous material and attached thereto as an incident to the adhesivecoating on.said threads, said threads serving to supply the requiredtensile strength to said wrap; per Without impairing its anti-changquality.

4. A sanitary napkin comprising an elongated absorbent pad, and awrapper enclosing said pad and having extensions beyond the ends thereofconstituting tabs adapted to be used for supporting the napkin byattachment to a belt or other supporting element, said wrappercomprising a pair of relatively independent layers of` haphazardlyarranged and loosely matted bres constituting soft fibrous materiallayers characterized by an anti-chang quality and inadequate tensilestrength for said supporting and attaching functions of the wrapper, anda plu'- rality of threads disposed in relatively spaced, parallelrelation intermediate and extending lengthwise of said layers of fibrousmaterial for supplying the required tensile strength to saidv wrapperwithout -impairing its aforesaid antichang quality.

5. A sanitary napkin comprising an elongated absorbent pad, and awrapper enclosing said pad and having extensions beyond the ends thereofconstituting tabs adapted to be used for supporting the napkin byattachment to a belt or other supporting element, 4said wrappercomprising a pair of relatively independent layers of haphazardlyarranged and loosely matted fibres constituting soft brous materiallayers characterized by an anti-chailng` quality and inadequate tensilestrength for said supporting and attaching functions of the wrapper, anda pl'urality of adhesive-coated threads disposed in relatively spaced,parallel relation intermediate and extending lengthwise of said layersof fibrous material and adhesively attached thereto incident to theadhesive coating on said threads for supplying the required tensilestrength to said. wrapper without impairingits aforesaid antichangquality. A CHARLES A. FOURNESS. EDWARD H. VOIG'I'MAN.

